tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90930629681331142762024-03-18T21:10:26.542-07:00The Mind of Mr. XCome in and let me be your guide through the dark alley was of the mind.Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-4760140780900994712011-12-12T04:20:00.000-08:002011-12-12T05:05:35.762-08:002012 - The PlanWhen I started this blog I admitted that I had been away from reading fiction for about 4 years. Not coincidentally the amount of time it takes one to earn a, or in my case 2, bachelor's degrees. I did a lot of reading in 2010 and early 2011 catching up on all the things I felt like I had missed in the realm of fantasy fiction. Namely Brandon Sanderson (hehe) but a few more as well. I started to feel like I had made huge headway, and began to think I had caught up, but alas, such is not the case. So I have made a plan. A simple, elegant, awesome plan to catch up on even more of the good things I have missed.<div><br /></div><div>There are books coming out in 2012, did you know that? Even some fantasy books. Therefore, I have decided that I will find the books coming in 2012 that I desperately need to read, and will read all that seems possible by those authors, if I haven't read them yet. there are a few writers on this list that any fantasy fan who has not been under a rock for a while will recognize immediately. Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, Steven Erikson, Jim Butcher, and maybe a few new entrants into the realm of fantasy story telling.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, the plan:</div><div><br /></div><div>Scott Lynch - The Gentlemen Bastards Series</div><div>Republic of Thieves - March 2012</div><div><br /></div><div>This is a series that seems to continue picking up steam, and everything I have heard about it has been positive. I am very interested in starting my journey into the world of thieves, liars and bastards. </div><div><br /></div><div>Total Books - 3</div><div><br /></div><div>Brandon Mull - Beyonders Series</div><div>Seeds of Rebellion </div><div><br /></div><div>Having already read the first book in this series, and having a complex love hate relationship with it, I am ready to get my hands on the next part of the adventure. Hopefully I can get an early copy like I did the first book and read it over winter break (fingers crossed)</div><div><br /></div><div>Total Books - 1</div><div><br /></div><div>Jim Butcher - the Dresden Files</div><div>Cold Days - Spring/Summer</div><div><br /></div><div>I have read 4 books in this series, and cold Days will be the 14th printed. While this may seem like a daunting time investment the Dresden books can be one sitting reads, they are light, fast and fun. At least the first four were. I am looking forward to most of my spring filled with tales of fairies, vampires, ghosts and anything else that Dresden happens to blunder into.</div><div><br /></div><div>Total Books - 10</div><div><br /></div><div>Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen</div><div>Summer..... all Summer.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ok I have been threatening to jump into this one for a long time. 10 dense, long books are not an easy commitment, but I figure if I am going to claim to be a fan of fantasy fiction I have to read this highly praised series. I hope to finish them by August when Erikson is releasing a prequel book, but by then will I be interested in reading it? time will tell.</div><div><br /></div><div>Total Books - 11</div><div><br /></div><div>Mark Lawrence -The Broken Empire</div><div>King of Thorns - Aug 2012</div><div><br /></div><div>I know nothing about this series but the little description I have read on Amazon, but I must admit it sounds fantastic. I cant wait to jump into these at the end of the summer.</div><div><br /></div><div>Total Books - 2</div><div><br /></div><div>Joe Abercrombie - The First Law Trilogy and More</div><div><br /></div><div>I will admit right now that I know nothing about this author but for the fact that all of the internets is raving about his work. He is praised for his dark and gritty fantasy story telling that is infused with humor. Sounds good to me. So I have vowed to catch up on his back catalog.</div><div><br /></div><div>Total Books - 4 (ish)</div><div><br /></div><div>So if my count is correct I have 31 books on my list for 2012, it is not a lot (My record being 62) But many of these books are in the thousand page range, so its like reading 90 YA books (I am looking at you PoseySessions) plus there are a few things I still would like to get in between now and 2012. The final Mistborn book, the Alloy of Law, The Desert Spear, some Brett Weeks as well. So join me, and cheer me on as I take on what seems like a hefty challenge, heck I might as well make this one of my New Year's Resolutions, right?</div>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-54318499770305757752011-11-06T03:39:00.000-08:002011-11-06T03:47:33.579-08:00Back to Books or NaNoing Myself.Hello everybody,<div><br /></div><div>has it not been a long, boring time whilst I was gone living life and neglecting my blog? No? Alas, either way I am happy to announce I am back and better than ever. I have read a LOT of books in the ast few months, I just have not felt like reviewing many (any) or whatever. but here I am and I have so much to stay that I am not sure where I should start. what have I read while we were gone?</div><div><br /></div><div>hrmmmmmmmmm, List!</div><div><br /></div><div>Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear - Pat Rothfuss</div><div>Warded Man and Desert Spear - Peter Brett</div><div>Monster Hunter Alpha - Larry Corriea</div><div>Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold</div><div>Warbreaker - Brandon Sanderson</div><div><br /></div><div>Even a Clive Cussler novel and a couple other random things. I dont think I will be reviewing any of those, except for possibly The Kingkiller Chronicles books. I am going to TRY and get my hands on some new and interesting fantasy to review, probably (hopefully) starting this week with The Alloy of Law, and maybe Brent Weeks' The Black Prism.</div><div><br /></div><div>I am also participating in NaNo and have a neat little MG Urban Fantasy/Horror I am writing, it should be sweet!</div>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-32619249205918642082011-03-27T11:35:00.001-07:002011-03-27T11:35:40.123-07:00Servant of a Dark God–John Brown<p><img style="margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; display: inline; float: right" align="right" src="http://johndbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/Servant-cover-NEW-675x1023.jpg" width="218" height="330" />I judge books by their cover all the time.  As was the case at LTUE this year when I saw someone carrying a hardback copy of Servant of a Dark God.  The cover just looked great, and well I happened to be sitting in a presentation by the author, of whom I had never heard.  John Brown was funny, but he didn’t strike me as thoughtful as many of the authors who presented at LTUE.  I did not expect his book to be as good as it was.</p> <p>Brown crafts a solid political fantasy with a good antagonist triangle.  There are good guys, bad guys, bad guys, good bad guys and bad good guys.  The beast that is roaming the countryside is wonderfully conflicted, he is the servant of the dark god, but also a confluence of the souls of goodly folk.  At times he rails against the evil that he serves and at others he follows it with doglike loyalty.  The idea of the monster becoming in part the people which he destroys gives the story its uniqueness.  Brown does political twists very well in the book.  The idea that crystalizes about the Divines and that which they serve is stunning.</p> <p>I enjoyed many of the characters. Talen is supposed to be the protagonist, but it was fairly clear to me that Argoth was driving the book from the beginning.  Argoth is a character so well developed that I found myself waiting to read another of his point of views,  Argoth’s scenes drive the action and further the plot and the hints of his true story are tantalizing.  Hunger is a close second, the monster that is not even alive is the most dynamic character in the story as he shifts and changes with each new soul.</p> <p>I really enjoyed the status of the world. An abandoned people in flux, clinging to the last hope for survival, cut off from those who are supposed to protect them.  It is clear from early on that this is a land on a precipice.  but no matter how much danger they face from the invading bone face hoards they cannot unite as a people, and instead their continues clan oppression, hatred and mistrust.  This is the backdrop for <em>Servant of a Dark God</em>, and it works very well.</p> <p>The first hundred pages of the book was a bit confusing.  Brown’s world building in the early chapters of the book is solid, but it often feels as if he is starting in the middle.  He writes about several features of the world without first providing proper context.  While it comes out later in the book, it can leave the reader scratching his head early on in the book.  I also had a few problems with the scale of the world.  Sometimes places were described as closer or farther than they had been previously.  The towns at times seemed hours apart, and later only a few minutes.  This is exasperated by the modes of travel, someone walking can reach something as fast in the story as those riding.  Originally the home of a friend is described as “across the creek” but later it takes a whole night and part of a day to reach, the travel includes crossing 2 creeks and a river.</p> <p>There is so much room for this series to grow and evolve.  I am eagerly awaiting the release of a second book, I cannot wait to see where Brown takes his tale.  This is a book I highly recommend.</p> Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-23013099468627229262011-03-06T14:26:00.001-08:002011-03-06T14:26:33.949-08:00Things to Read–March Edition<p>OK so last month I did a things to read list, and well I finished some of the things on it.  Not true, I finished <em>The Maze Runner</em>, and read a bunch in <em>Ghost Hunting</em>, but never finished it.  Then I went to LTUE and got sidetracked by some of the books there.  After hitting up a couple different Barnes and Noble stores I now have a stack of books which I cannot wait to dive into.</p> <p> </p> <p><img style="display: inline; float: right" align="right" src="http://johndbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/Servant-cover-NEW-675x1023.jpg" width="122" height="185" />Reading Now:  <strong><em>Servant of a Dark God</em> – John Brown.</strong></p> <p>I met John at LTUE and he was a great and funny guy.  His panel about killers tory ideas was fantastic.  He sold copies of his book directly after the panel and I had to rush in and snag one.  It looks fantastic, and after about three chapters I am quite enjoying it.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><img style="display: inline; float: right" align="right" src="http://cs1.astatalk.com/r3/r65114/1_cYP3gjTsq1.jpg" width="121" height="186" />Up Next: <strong><em>The Warded Man</em> – Peter V. Brett</strong></p> <p>The Desert Spear was recommended to me a short time back and when I picked it up yesterday I saw it was a 2nd book in a series.  So I had to visit another B&N location in order to find the first book, and here it is sitting in a stack of books waiting to be read.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><img style="display: inline; float: right" align="right" src="http://images.contentreserve.com/ImageType-100/0211-1/{47D8C32E-041F-45F3-88D2-DE6979A4F211}Img100.jpg" width="122" height="162" />Following Those: <strong><em>Gardens of the Moon</em> – Steven Erikson</strong></p> <p>This first book in the Malazan series was on last months list and I totally intend on reading it this month.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>The Name of the Wind</em> – Patrick Rothfuss</strong></p> <p><img style="margin: 0px 4px 0px 0px; display: inline; float: left" align="left" src="http://www.fantasybooknews.com/files/2010/05/the-name-of-the-wind.jpg" width="113" height="193" />Everyone in the world is going crazy for the second book in this series, so I figured I better get on the bandwagon before it is too late.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>The Curse of Chalion</em> – Lois McMaster Bujold</strong></p> <p><img style="margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; float: left" align="left" src="http://bfgb.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/bujold.jpg" width="116" height="202" />On twitter I mentioned that The Final Empire was the best fantasy book I had ever read, someone responded asking me if I had read this.  No sir, no I have not, but I soon will.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Monster Hunter Vendetta</em> – Larry Correia</strong></p> <p><img style="margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; float: left" align="left" src="http://larrycorreia.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/mhv.jpg" width="125" height="167" />After reading MHI I am jonesing to read the second book in the series.  MHI was a damn fun read, and I was lucky enough to get my copy signed by Larry himself.  The B&N where I bought my copy of Vendetta had signed copies! wooo, 2 for 2!</p> Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-22317944390459309272011-02-24T23:01:00.001-08:002011-02-24T23:13:04.230-08:00Life, the Universe & Everything or Dinner with Dashner.<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWdWbw69oEI/AAAAAAAAAS0/Z7WIuKeSJJ0/s1600-h/dragon3%5B5%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="dragon3" border="0" alt="dragon3" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWdWcMgEtAI/AAAAAAAAAS4/4hiKTu484Io/dragon3_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="123" height="272" /></a>PoseySessions has been ranting and raving for an entire year about LTUE, and to be honest for most of that time I had no idea what she was talking about.  Only as it grew closer did I bother to check out the website.  From the get go it looked pretty good and I started to get excited about it. Tracy Hickman was going to be there and I figured the highlight of the experience would be meeting him and getting a few of my books signed.  While that was definitely one of the cooler moments, LTUE just got better and better the longer it went on, and capped with one of the coolest experiences of my life. (skip to the bottom for that)</p> <p>I attended several panels during LTUE, the first was Mormons and the Paranormal.  This panel was interesting, but the panelists (Blake Casselman, Eric Swedin, Nathan Shumate, Scott Parkin)  Spent way more time talking about Mormons and vampires and werewolves than anything I was interested in.  I thought they would address something about spirituality and hauntings, nope, nothing at all so I left a little downtrodden.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWdWcpual9I/AAAAAAAAAS8/noME3kUWrD0/s1600-h/33943%5B12%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Larry Correia" border="0" alt="Larry Correia" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWdWdZtEo5I/AAAAAAAAATA/bur7LVDvalU/33943_thumb%5B8%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="215" height="135" /></a>The next panel was one of my favorites: Writing Action with Larry Correia.  I had never heard of him until his name came up in the previous panel.  then I saw him talk about writing action ( and have since read his book and realized he was perfect for that presentation)   Larry put on a great presentation, a lot of what he had to say was pretty straightforward (as in “action would be awesome”) but there were a few gems.</p> <p>The next panel, and the one from which I felt I took the most information was How to Scare People with Dan Wells.  Wells laid out some basic techniques for writing horror and displayed them with clips from famous horror movies.  Some of them had pretty dirty words and situations for BYU, I couldn’t believe it.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWdWdvsCXVI/AAAAAAAAATE/KpS4QbZ7XYU/s1600-h/7702c060ada0867c7303d110.L._V192419647_SL290_%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Tracy Hickman" border="0" alt="Tracy Hickman" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWdWeGFUffI/AAAAAAAAATI/wYneNTgK57s/7702c060ada0867c7303d110.L._V192419647_SL290__thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="159" height="159" /></a>Friday morning was a presentation by Tracy Hickman a deconstruction of The Lord of the Rings as a way to display elements of a story and literary theory.  It was excellent.  Tracy laid out the Campbell Monomyth and the 8 character archetypes.   I took so many notes in this presentation and I learned a lot about story and characters. I also loved this quote.</p> <p align="center"><font size="2"><em>It is nothing to be published. It is everything to be read.</em></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2"><em>- </em>Tracy Hickman</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWdWeUFrdkI/AAAAAAAAATM/Dys0AKYcJyc/s1600-h/Killer-Breakfast-f1557%5B6%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 19px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Killer-Breakfast-f1557" border="0" alt="Killer-Breakfast-f1557" align="left" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWdWewWI0fI/AAAAAAAAATQ/Pr9r6FVW6Sc/Killer-Breakfast-f1557_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="201" height="201" /></a>Then Saturday morning was Killer Breakfast, which was NOT breakfast.  It was a session of Dungeons and Dragons run by the legend that is Tracy Hickman.  This was a fantastic experience. Tracy was extremely charismatic as he went on a murderous rampage killing players left and right in his Dungeon Master bloodlust.</p> <p>I also attended a tutorial on using photoshop to draw fantasy maps, a presentation by David Farland on self-editing, a panel on plot and foreshadowing, and a blast of a panel about story ideas with Correia and John Brown (whose debut novel <em>Servant of a Dark God</em> I am reading right now.)</p> <p>Another great part of LTUE was the author signings.  I got books signed by Farland, Correia, Hickman, John Brown and James Dashner.  All of the authors were very friendly and seemed happy to be there.  We had a chance to talk with James Dashner for a few minutes as he signed our books.  He told Megan and I that we were a perfect couple, that made me happy, and it set the stage for what would happen alter that evening.</p> <p><strong>So, the cool experience?</strong></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWdWfVHb0AI/AAAAAAAAATU/NLjw3ungqas/s1600-h/James_Dashner%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 13px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="James_Dashner" border="0" alt="James_Dashner" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWdWfoHBOxI/AAAAAAAAATY/jL3PUxPnb0w/James_Dashner_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="177" height="236" /></a>LTUE concluded with a banquet which Megan and I attended.  We entered the mostly empty ballroom which held about 20 round tables with seating for 6.  We picked a table on the left side of the room and settled in watching as people filter in and choose their seats.  James Dashner (the guest of honor)  walked in with 4 women.  I tracked him to see where he would sit. He hung his coat on the back of a chair then turned and looked at Megan and I.</p> <p>“Lets sit with these guys it should be fun”</p> <p>And he walked over and took a seat right next to me, for a moment I was twitterpated.  I guess I should tell you about Dashner.  he is the author of <em>The Maze Runner</em>, which will be a major motion picture directed by the woman who did the <em>Twilight </em>movies (hope it is better!)  The sequel <em>The Scorch Trials</em> released last year, and the final book of the trilogy, <em>The Death Cure</em> is due out later this year.  I read <em>The Maze Runner</em> and quite enjoyed it.  I have also read the first book in his <em>13th Reality</em> series, which I also thought was pretty good.</p> <p>So there we were, Me, Megan and a New York Times best-selling author sitting at a banquet table in a room in the BYU conference center.  I am usually pretty calm when meeting famous people.  I think I did well, I tried to be respectful, we said hello and I thought we would probably spend the night listening to him talk to the 3 other people who entered the room with him.  Not the case.  He engaged us in conversation almost immediately and we spent almost 2 hours chatting about books and movies.  At one point he asked me about my writing and I told him some of my story ideas.  He responded sincerely saying some of them sounded very interesting.  Then he told me something that I will not soon forget.  “You have what it takes, you are a good storyteller.”  Or something along those lines. I don’t think he knew how much that meant to me.</p> <p>All in all it was a fantastic evening.  Later he tweeted about it, and made Megan and I feel even more special.</p> <p>Even though Brandon Sanderson was not there LTUE was an amazing experience and I cannot wait for next year!</p> <p><font size="1">** PoseySessions and I took a ton of pics but she has them all on her computer, so these google image pics will have to do**</font></p> Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-13834042086922912372011-02-24T09:52:00.001-08:002011-02-24T22:28:11.260-08:00MHI–Larry Correia<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWaavet8BFI/AAAAAAAAASs/HiwyTW69IqI/s1600-h/mhi%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px;" title="mhi" alt="mhi" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWaav3qQY0I/AAAAAAAAASw/ASFXEFgHwRM/mhi_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="right" border="0" height="240" width="158" /></a>I knew about 20 pages in that Monster Hunter International was going to keep me turning pages until I finished it. It is a 700 page book I started on a Sunday and finished on a Wednesday. Now that is not my personal best, but it comes quite close. This book is an addicting thrill ride from page 1 through 700. Corriea takes horror action to the next level and I appreciate how he broke tropes of the Urban Fantasy genre.</p> <p>I am going to make a comparison between this novel and <em>The Dresden Files</em>, it is probably not a really good or fair comparison but it is going to happen anyway. from the get go some of this story reminded me of Butcher’s accounts of Harry Dresden. Our world, plagued by monsters, overbearing authority with lots of complex rules about what the protags can and cannot do when fighting them, etc. Where MHI diverges is in one small but extremely important area. Correia never cripples his characters. I appreciate the fact that the good guys are rough and they are tough and they are capable of fighting anything that comes their way. They don’t simper and complain, they don’t spend pages of the book whining. They kick in the door and kick monster butt. Too many authors today think the protag has to be vulnerable or weak to get people to identify with them. Not Owen Z Pitt, he is a straight BAMF from the first page to the last, and I loved it. Sure he gets beat up, sure he loses some fights, and sometimes monsters get the best of him. But I never felt that he was getting through every encounter based solely on his luck. Pitt made his own luck. As opposed to Dresden who spends the whole of each book barely escaping from events by happenstance, then complaining about it. I loved reading about the good guys fighting evil with nearly limitless resources. There was very little of the “omg yay we are getting saved by something out of nowhere that we never thought would happen” bullcrap and a whole lot of “empty your shotgun into its face then cut off its head” moments. I can never help but sigh when Dresden is captured by a couple of weak easily killable monsters, those monsters don’t have a chance against Pitt and MHI.</p> <p>Corriea makes the danger come from the strength and power of the evil dudes. Rather than writing one semi tough vampire being fought by a few unprepared sheep not ready to face its strength, Correia gives us 7 amazingly powerful vamps facing off against the collective might of modern weaponry carried by the Army, the Feds and MHI. This feels so much more epic to me.</p> <p>I did have a slight problem with a bit of the wacky magical stuff toward the ending, and the way Pitt ended the threat (not a spoiler there is already a second book out) I don’t like that “magic saves the day” stuff, but Pitt did all he could with his guns, knives and fists before he resorted to it, so I am not gonna complain much.</p> <p><em>Monster Hunter International</em> is rip roaring good read. it is so much fun that I could not put it down. I highly recommend it if you like horror or action.</p>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-55352098070594949642011-02-21T19:57:00.001-08:002011-02-24T22:28:28.521-08:00Mistborn: The Final Empire–Brandon Sanderson<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWM0NdX6PMI/AAAAAAAAASk/3C5fP3Z8NNc/s1600-h/mistborntfe%5B6%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px 0px 16px 7px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px;" title="mistborntfe" alt="mistborntfe" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWM0OUkLnoI/AAAAAAAAASo/pA7Ky08xi94/mistborntfe_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="right" border="0" height="401" width="264" /></a>I will say this right now, up front. <em>The Final Empire</em> is hands down the best fantasy novel I have ever read.</p> <p>Ok so I have that out of the way, what more is their to say right? Well, I guess I should tell you why I loved it.</p> <p>First off, amazing, fantastic, deep rich character development. Kelsier, Vin, Dockson and the rest of the gang stood out to me as individuals, I worried about each of them and pulled for them through the entire story. I could say more about it, but suffice it to say this was really well done, but not the best thing in <em>The Final Empire</em>, not by far.</p> <p>Sanderson is a smart man. He is nearly fanatical with the care and level of detail he puts into the systems in his book. Not just that magical systems for which he is highly acclaimed but the political systems and the bureaucratic systems as well. At its heart <em>Mistborn</em> reads like a political novel. It repeatedly brought the tales of Charles Dickens to mind as Sanderson described the bleakness of the world, the harsh social realities of the ska and the drudgery of everyday life in the Final Empire. Smokey, grimy Luthadel often reads like the London of a Dickens novel. It is a familiarity that brings Luthadel to life in the mind of the reader. I admire the painstaking way in which Sanderson details such a hopeless society, there is no wiggle room left for the underclass, they are trapped and they know it.</p> <p>The first time I met Brandon I asked him about <em>The Final Empire</em>, I wanted to know if he considered it a dystopia, and his reply was an emphatic yes. Fantasy readers have encountered many bleak, terrible places in their journey through various novels, but Sanderson is the first person that I have read who has really treated his work like a dystopia. The political elements are strong and well thought out. There are distinct class elements in <em>The Final Empire</em> and they intertwine so well with the fantasy story that is happening among them.</p> <p>Along with politics, I was enthralled by the economic system in the novel and how it hinged on a single precious commodity that was basically the lynchpin of the entire system. I was fascinated with the idea of the way the Lord Ruler controlled the substance and the consequences for the nobility if that supply were lost. Sanderson does something that so few do: he gives us reasons. He tells us why everything matters, he makes everything important. <em>Mistborn</em> is the story of a seemingly impervious empire built on the backs of an oppressed underclass and funded by a single precious element.</p> <p>It is all held together by the awesome power of the Lord Ruler. Never in my life have I read a more interesting, and downright scary bad guy. Another way in which Sanderson excels, the Lord Ruler is a mystery, a figment, a secret font of dark power, never flaunted, but always felt, like a beating heart at the core of the Empire, the only thing giving it life. He is the shark in Jaws, scarier because we never see him, and when we finally do it is concludes one of the strongest scenes of action I have ever read in any novel. </p> <p>Sanderson is a master of nuance, <em>The Final Empire</em> reads like the masterwork of an author who has perfected his craft. Ok was this review glowing enough? Shall we wrap it all up by saying I loved this book? Ok? Good.</p>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-1501975513747908532011-02-21T17:59:00.001-08:002011-02-24T22:28:46.018-08:00I cant stop reading this!<p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWMYaqq8PeI/AAAAAAAAASc/eRgN16fqrQA/s1600-h/mhi%5B5%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; padding-top: 0px;" title="mhi" alt="mhi" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TWMYbWUmLiI/AAAAAAAAASg/PjGuxE6Owow/mhi_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="left" border="0" height="441" width="290" /></a></p> <p>I don’t care who you are, this book is friggin fantastic. Ok yeah, if you do not like the diea of big bad beasties getting blasted into little flying bits of goo and jelly, maybe it is not for you. But if you are looking for an ass kicking fun romp through a monster infested world, buy this, read this now. I have not in many long years been this caught up by a book. This is what reading is meant to be, FUN! Give me this book over any action flick ever made (just me not a big action movie guy) I find myself up at all hours of the night looking for one more page.</p> <p>AND, its SCARY!!!! There has been a couple scenes so far that have had me shaking, and when I got up to go to the bathroom last night I literally checked my ceilings for anything crawling after me. I cannot say enough, this is fantastic! </p> <p>Just had to drop this quick blurb on ya, more info on LTUE and everything else coming soon.</p>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-42065896477512066562011-02-08T13:59:00.001-08:002011-02-24T22:29:56.934-08:00Brandon Sanderson–A New Favorite.<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TVG81db5qFI/AAAAAAAAASU/oRvGh8rlvt0/s1600-h/Brandon-Sanderson-author-photo-776x1%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 29px 12px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px;" title="Brandon-Sanderson-author-photo-776x1024" alt="Brandon-Sanderson-author-photo-776x1024" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TVG82KcU3GI/AAAAAAAAASY/KuW3w-FCBFY/Brandon-Sanderson-author-photo-776x1.jpg?imgmax=800" align="right" border="0" height="253" width="193" /></a>Brandon Sanderson has shot up quickly to the top of my list of favorite fantasy authors. At one point in my life I was reading 60+ fantasy novels a year. that point ended in 2006. <em>Elantris</em>, Brandon’s debut novel, was released in 2006. It is not by happenstance that I had never heard his name uttered (even as the man who would finish the WOT series, even as a local author, even as a professor at a school which several of my family members attend). I stopped reading fantasy around 2005/6 because I returned to school full time and it left me no spare moment to read anything other than textbooks, philosophy, memoirs, histories or political treatises. Not always was I reading them for school, but it had become something I did for fun and felt like if I was reading something it should somehow correlate with my education. Then I met <a href="http://poseysessions.blogspot.com/">PoseySessions</a>, she reminded that reading was a way to explore our imaginations, she got me excited to once again crack open a fantasy novel. her passion is infectious, if any of you know here, even through the internet, you probably know what I am talking about.</p> <p>Within a month of meeting her she began telling me about a story she was reading, <em>Elantris</em>. I was at the tail end of <em>East of Eden </em>(John Steinbeck) and was not sure about speculative fiction, something about years in university had soured my imagination for flights of fancy. So I listened patiently as she told me about this book that I thought I would never read. Then I did read it (review below) and it ignited a spark in me.</p> <p>Sanderson is a masterful story teller, sure I found a few flaws with <em>Elantris</em>, maybe I was being hyper critical with my freshly scrubbed brain, but for the most part I stick by my review. I wanted to read more fantasy. I went searching and strange names were popping out at me like road signs in the dark flying past at a hundred miles an hour. Names I had not heard before. Bakker, Erikson, Butcher… and many more. I thought I was versed in the genre, but the years had left me behind. One name that kept popping up was Brandon Sanderson. I knew him from his debut work and decided if I was going to jump headlong back into fantasy he would be the place I started.</p> <p>That was an excellent choice.</p> <p>I cannot say too much about him as a writer without spoiling the way I feel about the other books I have read, which I will be reviewing this month. I know I am late to the party here, but Sanderson is probably in my top 3 favorite fantasy writers of all time. And I could not order the list if you asked. </p> <p>After having met him I can say, without hesitation, the guy is legitimate. He speaks about the fantasy genre with passion. He understands what he is writing and the audience to which he writes. He grew up reading what we read and he is writing stories for those of us who can relate. He is also just a fantastic writer. He formulates stories that are spectacular. He interweaves his books with so much substance that they transcend a single genre. </p> <p>Long after growing tired of Robert Jordan (He is a legend, may he rest in peace) and the <em>Wheel of Time</em> the injection of Sanderson into the series has brought me back around and I have just started my own reread, very excited to finish the series with him at the helm. So stick around for a couple more reviews of his works and a post concerning some things he said while speaking at Teen Book Fest.</p>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-4938331806315475142011-02-07T21:33:00.000-08:002011-02-24T22:29:44.856-08:00Elantris - Brandon Sanderson (Repost)*** In honor of an upcoming slew of posts focusing on the writing of Brandon Sanderson I am reposting my review of <span style="font-style: italic;">Elantris</span> for context and your reading pleasure.***<br /><br />I<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7TLlLw6FfniVJ4uIRp94PUjEVTdLLGfDhmCjlLU_dFYICD8TI4tbBpfpW4ymJ0G518zfLxC93Q9w2meo9Z4TslZQqASHcFvKeDx997VVaAG_mAufGAGqo1XRF-QdHlGhIKjOZieQ3DOKy/s200/Elantris.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 186px; height: 300px;" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517608533217758306" border="0" /> love fantasy. I was about 8 years old when my dad read me The Hobbit, and around 12 when I finished my first read through The Lord of The Rings. Ever since I have sought out and enjoyed many fantasy series. In one year, I read 60 fantasy books, 40ish being my average. However, lately my fantasy reading has stalled, I have found very few new and worthwhile fantasy authors, and have read so much of the genres back catalogue over the past 15 years that I feel like I am caught up, waiting desperately for something new and exciting to come out. That feeling has dropped me out of the fantasy mainstream for the past couple of years, and I have instead been reading academic history and politics books in order to round out my education. It is rapidly approaching time for me to graduate college, and with a light semester upon us I have been searching high and low for new and interesting fantasy to read. Poseysessions introduced me to Brandon Sanderson and Elantris.<div><br /></div><div>I will jump right in and say Ioved I Elantris, it was the best, and most original fantasy novel I have read since Michael Moorecock's tales of Elric of Melnibone. Sanderson writes with a dry narrative style that allows the stark reality of his world penetrate the reader imagination. Elantris is refreshingly free of flowery embellishment, or sappy emotional overtones. While the characters in the story suffer, it is a dignified, humble suffreing that shines through in Elantris. Along with a masterful use of the invisible style, Sanderson is a genius worldbuilder. Because Elantris is a standalone novel it made sense that Sanderson did not bog down the story with unneccesary details about the world. Arelon and Elantris are wonderfully portrayed, as theya re the focus of the story. The rest of Sanderson's world feels real and definite, each culture is explained well inasmuch as it affects the story at hand.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Magic in the story is one of the biggest assets to the book. Sanderson created a magical system that is based in reason, yet remains mystical. The payoff regarding Elantrian magic is simple and that simplicity lends credit to Sanderson's imaginitive process. I thoroughly enjoyed Raoden's discovery , especially because Sanderson made the magic based in notions of science that allowed me to solve the problem regarding AonDor pages before the main character. This is consistent with Sanderson's view that magic in his books is always based in the natural laws of the worlds he creates. As a reader I appreciate the fact the there is no Deus Ex Machina in Elantris. It makes the reader (me) feel like Sanderson is an author who has faith in my ability to reason.</div><div><br /></div><div>Elantris was not a book without its shortcomings. For a fantasy book I felt it suffered from a lack of action, especially a climbing story arc. The first 500 pages felt like a continuing arrangement of point counterpoint by the Sarene and Hrathen. The only point of view that seemed to have a rising storyling was Raoden's and even that was broken midway through the tale, only to be restored later on. The climax finally came in the last 10% of the book, yet it felt totally unconnected to the previous pages. Sanderson end-loaded the book, a huge chunk of the movement of the story happens after page 500. There are very few "carrots" for the reader in the first three quarters of the book, and without story movement, or action, the reader is left with (the very well written) political intrigue. Which was more than enough for this reader to fall in love with Elantris.</div><div><br /></div><div>My final gripe with the book was the lack of character depth, while I did grow fond of Hrathen, Raoden, and Sarene, I felt the latter two lacked depth and cahracter development, there were both very one note. Hrathern, however, was extremely well written and developed, his inner struggle was a point on which the story hung for me, that along with the mystery beind him made constantly wonder how he would turn the tale. </div><div><br /></div><div>Elantris was a good, bordering on great fantasy read, while I did have a few technical gripes with the story I felt myself slowing down my reading as I reached the end, soemthing that is common for me when nearing the end of a book I love. I just do not want it to be over. I wish Elantris was a series and not just a standalone novel. I am impressed that Sanderson fit so much lore and intrigue into a single volume, especially for a debut work. It speaks to Sanderson's place among the top tier talent of fantasy writers.</div>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-88869230686824575652011-02-07T13:42:00.001-08:002011-02-24T22:29:29.076-08:00Reality is Broken–Jane McGonigal<p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TVBnQnDe_UI/AAAAAAAAASM/lpbiHOjCtGY/s1600-h/McGbookcover%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border: 0px none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px;" title="McGbookcover" alt="McGbookcover" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TVBnRMglC6I/AAAAAAAAASQ/WsTuP-oPgas/McGbookcover_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="right" border="0" height="273" width="180" /></a>Poseysessions was kind enough to volunteer me for the Reality is Broken book tour. We both have a shared interest in gaming and before I even read the book she wanted to interview me about my experiences as a gamer. I would like to preface this interview and all my following statements by saying while I enjoy many computer and console games, I would not consider myself a hardcore gamer. For me it is more about the enjoyment than about the triumph.</p> <p><strong>Q: McGonigal starts her book by saying “Gamers have had enough of reality.” As a casual gamer would you find yourself agreeing with this statement?</strong></p> <p>A: Yes and no, gaming provides a temporary escape, but personally don’t feel like it is meant or able to supplant reality.</p> <p><strong>Q: What motivates you to play a game? What kind of games do you like?</strong></p> <p>A: Relaxation, challenge, and escapism are all motivating factors when I feel like gaming. I prefer RPGs and strategy games, and games with a high level of customization for the player.</p> <p><strong>Q: Have you ever thought that aspects of your life would be more enjoyable if they were more like a game you had played?</strong></p> <p>A: No not really, but I have thought that a game would be more fun if it was less like real life</p> <p><strong>Q: Do you feel socially connected through any of your gaming experiences?</strong></p> <p>A: Very little, with the exception of socially oriented games like MMORPGS, with any other game not at all.</p> <p><strong>Q: What would you change about your life to make more like a game you played?</strong></p> <p>A: I think games are enjoyable because they are separate from reality. A reality that was like a video game, or a video game that became reality would soon suffer from the same sense of banality that we prescribe to real life. </p> <p>Reality Is Broken has a lot of things of interest within it’s pages. One thing I liked thinking about was the way that gaming connects with ideas of economy. I had never really given it much thought before but the things that draw us to gaming in a way become there own currency. So much so that in 2009 China was forced to regulate the use of virtual money for fear that it would begin to devalue yen. "The virtual currency, which is converted into real money at a certain exchange rate, will only be allowed to trade in virtual goods and services provided by its issuer, not real goods and services." The dynamic that has been created by gaming that makes it so that this type of regulation has to be is fascinating. People want virtual money more than they want physical items present in their life. </p> <p>In the book McGonigal makes reference to economist Edward Castronova who sees a “mass exodus” of people out of their life and into gaming worlds. People are finding so much value in the virtual and digital world that the moments of reality of increasingly devalued. Reality Is Broken suggest that gaming provides and excitement that is lacking from real life, even within work and school settings productivity could be improved if there were a more game like atmosphere.</p> <p>One of my favorite sections of the book was the chapter called “Leveling Up In Life.” In this chapter McGonigal presents different ways that we can take gaming concepts into the real world. One amazing idea came from Clay Johnson who created plusoneme.com after hearing McGonigal speak. The tagline of the site is “gold stars for grownups.” The concept of the site is to use a gaming term “plus one” and use it as a way to compliment friends, family, and coworkers in a fun and unusual way. And in a way this gaming concept again becomes like a currency to those that use it. The currency of gaming can be very validating and that is why we need more of it in our every day life. </p> <p>In Reality Is Broken the author goes on to say, “Systems that help <em>us level up in real life</em>, by providing us with voluntary obstacles related to our real-world activity and by giving us better feedback really can help us make a better effort.” A lot of people feel undervalued and invisible in their working life and that is why they turn to gaming for escape. Throughout the book McGonigal suggests ways that we can use gaming concepts to fix real world problem. This chapter is the home for Fix #8: Meaningful rewards when we need them most. And too me it makes quite a bit of sense.</p> <p>I have even set up a plusoneme.com account for PoseySessions and myself, so if you feel like giving us any gold stars just head on over there! (You may need our email addresses so just leave a comment if you want them.) Because after thinking about it I don’t think it would be so bad if there was a little more reward in every day life.</p> <p>Oh, and one more thing. The Penguin Press has been generous enough to offer me one copy as a giveaway. Just leave a comment saying you would like to be entered. Contest closes 2/12/2011. Sorry US/Canada only. Please make sure you leave a way to contact you if you are the winner.</p>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-8166238679078970522011-02-01T13:56:00.001-08:002011-02-24T22:29:18.386-08:00What to Read!<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TUiBN4vbBhI/AAAAAAAAARY/kQbuRYsXVsw/s1600-h/the_maze_runner_book_cover_01%5B7%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px;" title="the_maze_runner_book_cover_01" alt="the_maze_runner_book_cover_01" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TUiBOTqVzKI/AAAAAAAAARc/lG0S2mi1v60/the_maze_runner_book_cover_01_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="right" border="0" height="171" width="119" /></a>I have so much more time to read now that I am basically between finishing my education and finding a job. I am in a strong fantasy mood and have decided to check out a slew of fantasy books that I have not yet read. I am really excited to dig into some of them. But, first things first:</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://ltue.org/LTUE_2011.html">LTUE</a> is this month, and it will be my first time attending. James Dashner is set to be the guest of honor. I have read (and not yet reviewed) most of the first <em>13th Reality</em> book, but did not entirely enjoy it, so I decided to give Dashner one more shot.<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TUiBPEvrh5I/AAAAAAAAARg/VR5BvtP8yWA/s1600-h/9780765359247%5B7%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px;" title="9780765359247" alt="9780765359247" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TUiBPvo-cpI/AAAAAAAAARk/kVtsmnOWGSs/9780765359247_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="right" border="0" height="188" width="118" /></a> Right now on the nook I am reading <em>The Maze Runner. </em>Tracy Hickman will also be at LTUE so I plan on reading the first book in his <em>Dragonships of Vindras</em> series before attending as well. I am very excited for the event and look forward to hearing what many great fantasy writers have to say about their craft. There will definitely be at least one post, maybe more, from BYU this month!</p> <p> </p> <p>Next up for fantasy is going to be something from <a href="http://www.bestfantasybooks.com/top25-fantasy-books.php">this list</a>. Granted I have read a lot of the books here, but there are a few I have only heard of in passing and cannot wait to jump <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TUiBQQr-OwI/AAAAAAAAARo/ouZHfS-lcAU/s1600-h/gardens_of_the_moon_cover%5B5%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px 0px 6px 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px;" title="gardens_of_the_moon_cover" alt="gardens_of_the_moon_cover" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TUiBQ7wHWtI/AAAAAAAAARs/unIlm0fg9W0/gardens_of_the_moon_cover_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="right" border="0" height="179" width="119" /></a>into. I think after LTUE I will start <em>The Malazan Book of the Fallen </em>series by Steven Erickson, and after the first book in that series I am queuing up <em>The Name of the Wind</em> by Patrick Rothfuss (a suggestion for the Book Safari by Shanyn) having failed to find this used I will probably see about getting an ebook version. That is as far as I can go ahead, because any one of the previous mentioned books has at least one sequel, if they are good enough I might be sucked in!</p> <p> </p> <p>As far as other readings go I am finding myself caught up in a whirlwind of great reading regarding one of my other favorite <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TUiBRTsNZeI/AAAAAAAAARw/wY4yvFOmgUo/s1600-h/the-name-of-the-wind%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border: 0px none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px;" title="the-name-of-the-wind" alt="the-name-of-the-wind" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TUiBR1O4WCI/AAAAAAAAAR0/1x6bXgJoq64/the-name-of-the-wind_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="right" border="0" height="179" width="120" /></a>topics; Science and the paranormal. PoseySessions found me an amazing book,<em> </em><span style="font-weight: normal;color:#cccccc;" ><em>Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death, it</em> is currently sitting at her house with about 40 pages read, cant wait to finish this one, and another book that reads like a sequel, </span><span style="font-weight: normal;color:#cccccc;" ><em>Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena, from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory.</em> Both books are very similar and document closely related subjects happening 40 –80 years apart. <em>Ghost Hunters</em> chronicles Harvard psychology professor and pragmatic philosopher William James’ (whom I am enamored with) search for scientific proof or disproof of ghosts or spirits. <em>Unbelievable</em> is an account of Dr. J.B. Rhine’s search for ESP ( I found a first edition of Rhine’s <em>New Frontiers of the Mind</em> on the book safari, woot) I plan to finish these and maybe do a series of posts on them and my own philosophy on the topic.</span></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TUiBScK8lnI/AAAAAAAAAR4/5HW-N09rOrQ/s1600-h/41CqUtUeVZL._bL160_%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border: 0px none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; padding-top: 0px;" title="41CqUtUeVZL._bL160_" alt="41CqUtUeVZL._bL160_" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TUiBSqFY2mI/AAAAAAAAAR8/Gt2Lu95ejE8/41CqUtUeVZL._bL160__thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="left" border="0" height="264" width="175" /></a><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TUiBTJ3YYbI/AAAAAAAAASA/1ojJFKALaAM/s1600-h/blum%5B6%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border: 0px none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px;" title="blum" alt="blum" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TUiBToRsV_I/AAAAAAAAASE/GhXRuqRNdGI/blum_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="right" border="0" height="266" width="177" /></a></p>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-5100757298275269312011-02-01T13:21:00.001-08:002011-02-01T13:21:25.836-08:00Contest Winner!<p>It has come time to announce our contest winner!  And since I have all of twelve followers, one being myself (tee hee) and one being <a href="http://poseysessions.blogspot.com">PoseySessions</a> I will then choose one of the remaining ten (doing it as I type this) by rolling a ten sided dice and counting upward in chronological order, 1 being my first follower and 10 being my most recent.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong><font color="#9b00d3">D</font><font color="#ffff00">r</font><font color="#00ff00">u</font><font color="#0000ff">m</font><font color="#ff0000">ro</font><font color="#ffc000">ll</font>:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>the result is follower <strong><u><font color="#9b00d3" size="5">Kade Hendricks.</font> </u></strong>Congrats! and a huge thank you to everyone who follows and took part, even though things did not work out the way we wanted them too.</p> <p> </p> <p>*will attempt to contact winner regarding prize, if not claimed a new winner will be awarded.</p> Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-47213022914576699802011-01-27T11:24:00.001-08:002011-01-27T11:24:15.142-08:00Slow January<p>January has been pretty slow here on the blog.  The Book Safari did not turn out like I had hoped, both in the book search and interest.  Though I do very much appreciate those of you who participated.  This led me to be a bit discouraged and kinda ignore the blog for a little while.  Well, that was January, and this uhh….s till January.  Anyway, I have read some great stuff lately and did manage to find a COUPLE decent books.   Their will be more content soon.  Thanks for sticking with me.</p> <p> </p> <p>Oh and Feb 1st will be the announcement of the 30 dollar gift card winner, so stay tuned.</p> Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-63474754107371794102011-01-15T18:31:00.001-08:002011-01-15T18:31:41.920-08:00Elusive Quarry<p>So the Book Safari went off without a hitch…. ok not true.  There was one hitch, I did not find a single book from the target list, and it was not for lack of trying.  PoseySessions and I hit 5 used book stores and 3 thrift shops in Las Vegas over a 2 day period, and while she came home with a truckload of finds, I carried my meager three books back to Utah a bit dejectedly.</p> <p>Very sorry to those of you who contributed to the target list.  But stay tuned, we will announce the winner of the $30 gift certificate to one of our lucky followers (PoseySessions not included) on or around Feb. 1st.</p> Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-15338396248099334872011-01-11T10:07:00.000-08:002011-01-11T10:13:18.310-08:00THE HUNT BEGINS!!!And here we are in Las Vegas sitting at a nice breakfast before we break out into the unknown wilderness that is the jungle of used book stores. I have been waiting for this trip for a long time and I am happy to be here with my best girl enjoying a little bit of time away.<div><br /></div><div>Yesterday we hit a few thrift shops and found no list items, boooo hooo! But today should be more promising as we set out for about 7 used bookstores in the Las Vegas area.</div><div><br /></div><div>Wish us luck! and good luck to all of you who have books in the list (which has a couple new additions)</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); ">1. <span style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: italic; ">The Man Eaters of Kumaon</span> - Jim Corbett<br />2. <span style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: italic; ">The Glass Bees </span>- Ernst Junger<br />3. <span style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: italic; ">Cloud Atlas </span>- David Mitchell<br />4. <strong style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; "><em style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon</em> - Julie Phillips (dreamsandspec)</strong><br />5. <strong style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; "><em style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Morality, Harm, and the Law</em> ed. -Gerald Dworkin (dreamsandspec)</strong><br />6. <span style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-style: italic; ">The Cross Time Engineer</span> - Leo Frankowski (Carrie)<br />7.The name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss (Shanyn)<br />8.The desert Spear - Peter V Brett (Shanyn)<br /><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(204, 204, 204); ">Only 8 books on the target list but we will do our best to find them, we will have an instant update if we track one down.</span></div>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-46379717085095739752011-01-01T20:41:00.000-08:002011-01-01T20:47:17.624-08:00Book Safari Update!The Hunt begins Jan 10 and completes on the 12th. The updated list is below. There are some spots open, so toss your hat into the ring and lets see if we can find a few more gems!<br /><br />List:<br /><br />1. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Man Eaters of Kumaon</span> - Jim Corbett<br />2. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Glass Bees </span>- Ernst Junger<br />3. <span style="font-style: italic;">Cloud Atlas </span>- David Mitchell<br />4. <strong style="font-weight: normal;"><em>James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon</em> - Julie Phillips (dreamsandspec)</strong><br />5. <strong style="font-weight: normal;"><em>Morality, Harm, and the Law</em> ed. -Gerald Dworkin (dreamsandspec)</strong><br />6. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Cross Time Engineer</span> - Leo Frankowski (Carrie)<br />7.<br />8.<br />9.<br />10.<br /><br />That is how the list looks so far! If you submitted more books don't be discouraged, looks like there might be plenty of room left to fit them all in.Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-66038491062230844512010-12-31T09:33:00.000-08:002010-12-31T09:56:41.047-08:00The Great Book Safari Contest!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://blog.powersellerunion.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/dree-hemingway-campaign-7.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 413px; height: 308px;" src="http://blog.powersellerunion.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/dree-hemingway-campaign-7.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I figured it was about time for Mr. X to host a contest. I wanted to make it something fun and unique, something that tied into what I am doing right now. Then it dawned on me. <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/poseysessions">@PoseySessions</a> and I are taking a trip to Las Vegas on a great book safari. We plan to hit up as many of the local used book stores as we can in search of some great books. I had first thought about making it a little contest among ourselves, then as I thought more about it I wanted to extend that opportunity to the followers of this blog.<br /><br />So what is the deal?<br /><br />Easy! There is two ways to win. First just follow this blog, on February 1st a winner will be selected from all the followers and they will receive a $30 gift certificate to better World Books. Another, more fun, way to win will be to contribute to the hunt. Below I am going to post a short list of items that <a href="http://poseysessions.blogspot.com/">PoseySessions</a> and I consider the feather in the cap of our upcoming hunt. You can contribute to this list in the comments of this post, if your contributions sparks interest and is sufficiently uncommon we will add it to the list and you have just been entered to win a $10 Better World Books gift certificate. Here comes the good part, if we find your book on our safari you win! You can have up to 3 books on the target list, meaning if we find all of them you will also win $30 towards you own virtual book safari.<br /><br />A short explanation of what we are looking for on our list. One of my items is <span style="font-style: italic;">The Man Eaters of Kumaon</span> by Jim Corbett. My grandpa owns a first edition of this book and I have been searching used book stores across the country for it. I came close to a copy in Connecticut but it had disappeared from the shelf shortly before I arrived asking about it. I could easily order a copy online but part of the fun is the hunt. The genres we enjoy most are scifi, fantasy, nonfiction (historical, philosophy, political thought). So what are some gems you think should be on our list?<br /><br />List:<br /><br />1. The Man Eaters of Kumaon - Jim Corbett<br />2. The Glass Bees - Ernst Junger<br />3. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell<br />4.<br />5.<br />6.<br />7.<br />8.<br />9.<br />10.<br /><br />The rest of the list is waiting to be populated by you, so participate for a chance to win your own virtual book safari!Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-9233082208157006802010-12-30T12:49:00.000-08:002011-02-24T22:29:02.763-08:00Beyonders: A World Without Heroes - Brandon Mull<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/hamm/Beyon.png?t=1293745141"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 504px; height: 204px;" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/hamm/Beyon.png?t=1293745141" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I have become a Brandon Mull fan with blazing speed, meeting him on October 31st, and finishing all of his books by Christmas. Mull is a great story teller, and without that I would have not rushed through everything he had to offer so quickly. One thing I am happy I got to read was the first book of his new series <span style="font-style: italic;">Beyonders</span>. I was lucky enough to get it in ebook format from Simon and Schuster's Galley Grab of about a month back. <span style="font-style: italic;">A World Without Heroes</span> officially releases march 15th of 2011, but I have chosen to wrap up Brandon Mull month with an early review of the book.<br /><br />I have said it many times, but it bears repeating if you are going to dig into <span style="font-style: italic;">A World Without Heroes: <span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span>Mull is a slow starter, plain and simple. I realized it while reading the Candy Shop War, and when I tuned into a local talk radio station last week I caught them right in the middle of discussing <span style="font-style: italic;">Fablehaven</span>, before long the speaker stated "the first book starts out kinda slow" a sentiment I share. The good thing about Mull is once he gets over the initial drudgery of setting up his tale they usually take off on a rip roaring pace and finish strong.<br /><br />I do not like to follow the old "talk about all the bad stuff first then give a good review" line that I see so often (but yes I do it), however, I am definitely going to do that with this post. Why? because the book starts bad. There was a moment around a third of the way through that I almost decided to put it down and forget about it. The writing is solid as always with Mull but the narrative for the first 200 pages borders on boring. It takes him a long time to get to the meat of the story, and even then it takes more pages to get into something that feels like a fantasy adventure.<br /><br />The first part of the book jumps from chapter to chapter each named after some inconsequential character that the protags meet on their quest. A lot of the early stage of the novel feels phoned in, or a mad libbed version of a fantasy book. They meet _________ on the road, he is a _______ and has the power to _________. Then that character fades away as they continue the journey down the road to meat another similar character. The early part of the story is extremely linear, I felt like I was reading a choose your own adventure that only had one choice. I got frustrated many times with the lack of any narrative twist or sense of real threat or danger. Mull employs a trope early in the book that drove me nuts for many pages. An all powerful antagonist who can crush the protags any time he chooses, but lets them continue their quest just for his own amusement, oh yeah and their quest is to destroy him. I groaned every time I heard another excuse why these little nobodies were not being ground to dust under the boot of the evil emperor. BUT, Mull proves his ability later in the book. He turns a groan inducing plot device into a really interesting and unique aspect to the book. It is the twist ending that Mull does so well, it was set up perfectly early on to give the reader a facepalm moment, but still reading through it initially was a bummer.<br /><br />Almost directly in the middle of the book <span style="font-style: italic;">A World Without Heroes</span> gets good, no great. It takes Mull's introduction of political intrigue and scheming, the imminent threat of death and a spectacular invitation to a wondrous place to make the story come to life. That along with the introduction of some truly awesome supporting characters and finally a sense that the protags have a mind of their own and we begin to see where this story will grow. There is more payoff later in the book as some of the toss away characters return in different capacities. Mull employs some great techniques to paint a dark world covered with a flimsy facade of whimsy. While the protags are on the move it seems like the world is of little consequence, lacking richness or depth, once they stop somewhere Mull takes the time to detail the setting of each of the episodes that take place within the book. It left me feeling like I was looking at a tiny world filled with blandness but peppered with a few points of great interest.<br /><br />As the narrative picks up in the second half <span style="font-style: italic;">A World Without Heroes </span>becomes a strong and enjoyable fantasy novel. Along with being a slow starter Mull has a thing for one dimensional main characters. In every one of his books I have found the supporting cast to be more interesting, more detailed and more fleshed out than his main characters. The same goes for this book The female protag, at times, seems like she merely represents an outlet for the male character to vent his frustrations. However, from the ending it seems like this may change in the second book. It should also be said this is definitely a story from a boys perspective, whereas I felt <span style="font-style: italic;">Fablehaven</span> was more balanced, but leaning toward a girls point of view, <span style="font-style: italic;">A World Without Heroes </span>is told more through the eyes of a male protag. While <span style="font-style: italic;">Fablehaven</span> made a point to complete each book with its own conclusion, <span style="font-style: italic;">A World Without Heroes</span> does not have a solid ending point, and the story is left unresolved to be picked up with the next book.<br /><br />readers should rejoice, though you will have to slog through a couple hundred pages of mediocre narrative you will dive into the deep end of a fantastic fantasy adventure, and in the style of Mull's previous series, the action should not die down in the beginning of each subsequent book, it feels like he has shaken out the cobwebs, laid the cards on the table and with the first book in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Beyonders</span> series has prepared the reader for two more books stacked with fast paced fantasy adventure. We can only hope!Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-24097726653319412752010-12-20T19:06:00.000-08:002010-12-20T20:00:03.292-08:00Eastern State Penitentiary<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmgqL64ecFRXZxjQ5Y-A2ggjSxY3XLfUa58e5dfJ44US4fp62t-khB6N8b2pVJa8a_16We2BLfm54AF1M0Xs5TEG9v5POsY1lPXqKbm5MLmKEjuZDgBabF5qp8Z99ZJ1GX9YpTRBhpbG74/s800/P1012048.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 525px; height: 393px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmgqL64ecFRXZxjQ5Y-A2ggjSxY3XLfUa58e5dfJ44US4fp62t-khB6N8b2pVJa8a_16We2BLfm54AF1M0Xs5TEG9v5POsY1lPXqKbm5MLmKEjuZDgBabF5qp8Z99ZJ1GX9YpTRBhpbG74/s800/P1012048.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDE2Y5JaHK4WGRkrlu9-Gh6pt68ws-7K6ySE28Cmgp-u0hKwbH2O_oEem3OFMiRxOdQTPU5iKwbYt6r40Wr2QkOKPFCcpDhw5_0FArxkSGqdK3oKRd4e7Z3CX8J1YEXf4XHYi8fqz0bmOl/s640/P1011942.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 278px; height: 371px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDE2Y5JaHK4WGRkrlu9-Gh6pt68ws-7K6ySE28Cmgp-u0hKwbH2O_oEem3OFMiRxOdQTPU5iKwbYt6r40Wr2QkOKPFCcpDhw5_0FArxkSGqdK3oKRd4e7Z3CX8J1YEXf4XHYi8fqz0bmOl/s640/P1011942.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a>This summer I was lucky enough to have one the of best experiences of my life. I took a cross country road trip with PoseySessions. We drove from San Diego to Connecticut and visited NYC, Washington DC and a bunch of other awesome places. One of the best things about the trip was the fact that I could stop at several places along the way and visit friends and family who are spread out all across the country. One side trip took us to Philadelphia where we planned to stay a few days with my cousin Desi. Without anything really planned Desi decided to show us around her home city. We feasted at several great ethnic restaurants, saw the famous Rocky statue and played in a few fountains. Now if you know PoseySessions you know that she is sort of a bibliophile. Desi recommended a neat little used bookstore near a place she used to work. So we went, and found a great parking spot, which was surprising! But what was even more surprising is what was directly across the street from our destination. While I drove along the cramped streets of Philly I did not even notice the hulking stone mass (hey I am a small town boy, I had enough on my plate just understanding if I was going the right way down any of the one way streets). We stepped out of the car and then I saw it, well I saw a huge block wall stretching high into the air. It did not fit, here we were in the middle of a major metropolitan area and there was a castle across the street from a coffee shop, a Greek restaurant, and a used bookstore. I wondered out loud what that could be. It is Eastern State Penitentiary my cousin responded, and then my heart skipped a beat, I immediately thought of this.<br /><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LzupqJuOORk?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LzupqJuOORk?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object><br /><br />Those (few) of you who follow the blog may have noticed that I am slightly interested in the paranormal. That being so I have been a fan of Syfy’s Ghost Hunters since its first episode. I don’t claim to believe everything that happens on the show, but I do get a fun little tingle by tagging along into creepy places in the middle of the night. F you have seen the show then you might know that Eastern State was one of the locations that TAPS investigated early in the series. They came out with some spooky (if controversial) evidence. Later in the series they returned for a live event. The TAPS crew announced Eastern State was officially haunted. So there I was, standing, staring (gawking) at this mass of stone and mortar. It cast a pall over the neighborhood, its mere presence making the cloudy day even gloomier. We have to go, I announced. And so we did.<br /><br />Eastern State is a fantastic place. While the self guided tour seemed a bit lacking, the experience of being able to roam on your own through the dark crumbling halls was better than I could have ever imagined. The stories told by inmates and guards alike are enough to put even a person without knowledge of the supposed haunting on edge. It was the co<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnuo4I2k4duk62XJBMAofmhPmEdo_wy45EqXvtjwDV_Z6lENoz2yIwocjJ11A9aVB1VkU_V7gdnRb9CtSCnx_oN_wvS74m4iJXcDDtryr2dYjb4yOvYUcxOo3P71maoaR01KKy2qBhiL3/s640/P1011990.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 5pt 5px 5px 5pt; cursor: pointer; width: 285px; height: 371px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnuo4I2k4duk62XJBMAofmhPmEdo_wy45EqXvtjwDV_Z6lENoz2yIwocjJ11A9aVB1VkU_V7gdnRb9CtSCnx_oN_wvS74m4iJXcDDtryr2dYjb4yOvYUcxOo3P71maoaR01KKy2qBhiL3/s640/P1011990.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a>untry's first penitentiary. Penitence being the root word. The prisoners were kept in silence, devoid of human contact. Guards wore special socks over their shoes as to make no noise when walking the halls to alert the inmates to the presence of another human being. A reverent pall settled on me as I entered into the first cell block, men actually lived years of their lives in this place, it was a sobering thought. The halls were crumbling and the rusted, warped doors led into dark voids filled with damp, cracked walls. As we walked through the oppressive atmosphere I could not help but feel a rush, this was a legitimately spooky place, this is how they are supposed to feel. if a ghost lives anywhere in the world, I bet there is one at Eastern State.<br /><br />As we concluded our tour feeling suitably humbled and slightly creeped out we walked out into the courtyard and the threatening storm broke loose on us. Lightning flashed briefly brightening the day darkened by black clouds. Thundered boomed across the prison and rain spattered down. It was the perfect ending to the amazing experience.<br /><br />Another interesting aspect to Eastern State were the numerous artistic installations. While I found some of them to be a bit out of palce for my taste (the ode to Abu Ghraib in particular) <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-XgleyVorv6oZq2Lq12zgsc-YKGmRpQlas258Teyi5Ig-pJ-lRRAqoGMEueWZ3TXGe1Db-I1J63ptMGLBKF5KJ7RPiuTOB010flUmX4PzcOIrRJ20Qk97l-wXh9RRvORZmdw3tmrUcvVi/s800/P1012052.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 5pt 5pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 330px; height: 244px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-XgleyVorv6oZq2Lq12zgsc-YKGmRpQlas258Teyi5Ig-pJ-lRRAqoGMEueWZ3TXGe1Db-I1J63ptMGLBKF5KJ7RPiuTOB010flUmX4PzcOIrRJ20Qk97l-wXh9RRvORZmdw3tmrUcvVi/s800/P1012052.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a>several of them only served to enhance the experience. One was a set of televisions located in different parts of the prison playing scenes from famous prison movies. In the bathroom was an endless loop of bathroom scenes, in the hallway were scenes that take place in prison halls, and so on for cells and other parts of the penitentiary. Another that served to capture a moment of Eastern State and freeze it in time was the addition of several white plaster cats placed among the crumbling ruins. They were crafted in homage to the pack of stray cats who made a home in the prison walls, and to the man who took care of them. The story of the cats was almost as sad as that of the penitentiary itself. Animal control spayed and neutered all the animals and the clan eventually faded away, like their statues which are crumbling and disappearing from the grounds of Eastern State.<br /><br />In the end I cannot say if Eastern State is haunted, but I can say it is a wonderful place to visit. PoseySessions was the photographer for this excursion as she is for most of them.. She got some shots that captured the creepiness of the place.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh22p4ELjllgIxFemo32VDOwSNI4P90ztBqd0kN2k73LqetPnOHNf3UHTWkHssoxn72PtnbT5GTNXKpAdP31wy7aYta0CmGs796cdOCm-IXvGIrOjB0FcgZrG8jm2MeWvculFS5Qpuj8DGp/s640/P1011999.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 299px; height: 397px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh22p4ELjllgIxFemo32VDOwSNI4P90ztBqd0kN2k73LqetPnOHNf3UHTWkHssoxn72PtnbT5GTNXKpAdP31wy7aYta0CmGs796cdOCm-IXvGIrOjB0FcgZrG8jm2MeWvculFS5Qpuj8DGp/s640/P1011999.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">This might not be a ghost in this picture, in fact I doubt it is, but I like to pretend we caught something paranormal during our time at Eastern State.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> Below: extremely creepy barber chair in one of the cells.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpSlrjiLVrl0hs2LpmiWS2YR-ldCXv1Jbg_kINvlQY_CLz65vds2qEYka2srU2VacFdl_0ENUG5Q-DhiMMC7WhYInrEDd8DqxmPtqgRPKh6ZfdNWGsbe_NdqUhyrwpqxd8E0Kbh0PSeOcK/s640/P1012087.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 0pt 0px 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 204px; height: 270px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpSlrjiLVrl0hs2LpmiWS2YR-ldCXv1Jbg_kINvlQY_CLz65vds2qEYka2srU2VacFdl_0ENUG5Q-DhiMMC7WhYInrEDd8DqxmPtqgRPKh6ZfdNWGsbe_NdqUhyrwpqxd8E0Kbh0PSeOcK/s640/P1012087.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-31245515824248280522010-12-15T19:25:00.001-08:002010-12-19T21:13:13.394-08:00Fablehaven–Brandon Mull<p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TQmGs2HFvWI/AAAAAAAAAP8/Avo_GUiWDiI/s1600-h/FableHeader%5B6%5D.jpg"><img style="border: 0px none ; background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px;" title="FableHeader" alt="FableHeader" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TQmGtpW5GYI/AAAAAAAAAQA/jErf2j5DXUI/FableHeader_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" border="0" width="522" height="246" /></a></p> <p>Prior to attending Teen Book Fest in Provo I had read eleven pages of <em>Fablehaven</em>, closed the book and mostly forgot about it. After meeting Brandon Mull I decided to give this one another go. What turned me off was the familiar opening and the realization that this was another urban fantasy. I picked the book up and began to read. It was several pages before my interest was piqued. It seems to me that Mull is a slow starter, which is not really a bad thing, but with so many books out there dying to be read I often give up a little too early. In the end I am very happy I picked this book back up.</p> <p>It takes a while to get into the meat of the story, but when Mull begins to unravel mysteries and secrets the roller coaster ride never ends. There is so much packed into this book that it is hard to decide where to begin. The world of <em>Fablehaven</em> is our own world, usually this is not very interesting to me, however, Mull pulls it off like none other (ok, ok, maybe one other) I loved the idea of a world that used to be filled with magical creatures with human eyes slowly being closed to their existence over time. I loved the setting. Connecticut. Having just visited the state for the first time this summer I was entranced by the natural beauty. It was fresh in my mind and with Mull’s descriptions I was easily able to pictures the forests and streams of <em>Fablehaven</em>.</p> <p>Mull intrigued me with the hints of sinister and evil creatures, his depictions of terrible monsters, and warnings to not peek out the windows on midsummer’s eve. At times the story can be dark, creepy, and bordering on scary. There were moments surrounding midsummer’s eve that I found my self tensely flipping pages to catch the next development. I was reading the book in a way a person watches a horror movie through the gaps in the fingers covering their eyes. Yes, it was that awesome.</p> <p>Mull weaves in a cast of characters that are unique and interesting, if at times a bit flat or one dimensional.The main characters, the kids, were at once fun to read about, and a bit off putting. Seth can at times be very hard to like, and Kendra is a bit of a blank slate early in the series. These things do change in time, but they are very noticeable in the first book. I would have loved to know more about Grandpa Sorenson and Dale. But, the number of characters and their personalities definitely improves through the series. Especially with my favorite character, Hugo. Saying that might be a bit of a spoiler, but not much, you still have to figure it out. I especially liked Muriel and her jangling limberjack, it was an excellent way to tie the story together and bring it into the larger scope of the entire series.</p> <p>The best part of this great story was definitely the ending. I have noticed that many fantasy stories aimed at young readers lack that epic feel. Even Harry Potter left something to be desired in the way of grandiose actions scenes that typify the genre. <em>Fablehaven</em> does not. The final battle, while small in scope, feels like a raging fight to save the world. I reveled in the good on evil action and the series of twists that made the story pay off.</p> <p><em>Fablehaven</em> is an amazing fantasy story, it has everything one could hope for in a roaring good tale. A little bit of horror, a lot of action, magic, demons and witches and a pressing sense of danger.</p>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-6995956224625427122010-12-10T00:08:00.001-08:002010-12-19T21:13:26.504-08:00The Candy Shop War–Brandon Mull<p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TQHf-T5ixeI/AAAAAAAAAP0/5499cw-daq4/s1600-h/n256748%5B9%5D.jpg"><img style="border: 0px none ; margin: 18px 5px 18px 18px; background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px;" title="n256748" alt="n256748" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TQHf_Cmqg1I/AAAAAAAAAP4/oi9dGvb73c4/n256748_thumb%5B7%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="right" border="0" width="243" height="365" /></a>Prior to Provo City Library’s Teen Book Fest I only knew Brandon Mull as the author of the <em>Fablehaven</em> series. I was taken a bit off guard when I saw hordes of youngsters carrying a different book by him. Little arms absent of <em>Fablehaven</em> book instead clutched copies of <em>The Candy Shop War</em>. I noticed it, but thought very little of it, as to me it seemed this was a novel for much younger kids. then I read Fablehaven and was convinced of Mull’s status as a great storyteller. I had seen it on the shelf of a local bookstore one week, went back a few days alter and they were sold out. I went to another store and snagged their last remaining copy. I cracked open the book with very few expectations.</p> <p>I was for the most part correct about the target audience of the book which seems in the 8-10 year old range. The story begins with a very familiar middle grade trope: new kid just moving into a new town. Scores of these books begin either in a car travelling to an unfamiliar new hometown, on the first day at a new school, or standing in a bedroom surrounded by boxes waiting to be unpacked. <a href="http://poseysessions.blogspot.com/">PoseySessions</a> refutes this statement, but I stand firmly by my assessment. The new kid in town is the old fallback opening for many of these types of stories. Not saying that it does not work, but I had hoped for something more original from Mull. There was very little in the way of adapting to a new environment. The fact that the main character instantly made friends and assimilated into his new environment made the fact that he was a new kid in town almost pointless. He confronts the realities of the story as they begin, he did not move into a weird town and begin to discover its oddities, he moved in right as the strangeness begins. Nate could have been any kid who lived in Colson for years, that used and abused new kid in town formula served very little purpose and did nothing but set this novel from the beginning in the “standard middle grade fare” territory.</p> <p>Standard fare is where the novel muddled for several chapters. The idea of magic candy and the way Mull sets it apart is very well conceptualized. I like the way he created his magical system, a world where magicians have to exploit children with candy in order to achieve their goals. There is something sinister about Mull’s magic from the beginning. It speaks back to the mantra hammered into the minds of every child: “don’t take candy from strangers". The sinister tone that underlies the book serves from the start to make narrative fairly predictable. There were no boundaries smashed in <em>The Candy Shop War</em>, at least in the middle chapters of the book. I did however enjoy the fact that Mull created a dangerous world, a world where you can be killed and nobody is really safe. The introduction of John Dart in the prologue makes it very clear that things are dangerous, and when he reemerges later in the story it is where the book picks up and starts to get better.</p> <p>One thing that I really liked about The candy Shop war was the unfamiliar triumvirate of opposing forces. The bad guy, the not so bad guy who is still not too trustworthy, and the good guy who is still pretty dark. When John Dart enters the narrative the story changes from something standard to something much more interesting. I wont say if he is a good buy or bad guy (no spoilers) but he is a very neat character who pushes the story in a much better direction. by the end Mull has cultivated a sense of hopelessness and loss. And when the story comes to a climax the reader is turned upside down and inside out and left with their jaw dropped as they contemplate an “I see what you did there” moment. </p> <p>While The Candy Shop War may be slow and predictable for the first three quarters of the book the final chapters make it more than worthwhile to push through them. in the end I went from disappointed with the book to having enjoyed it enough that I eagerly await the sequel. It is a good read with a solid message for readers of all ages.</p>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-23462055782103033502010-12-05T16:16:00.001-08:002010-12-19T21:13:36.826-08:00Brandon Mull Month<p align="justify"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TPwrPcn9RoI/AAAAAAAAAPc/Bmn-IvO0uWM/s1600-h/mull%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="border-width: 0px; margin: 18px; background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px;" title="mull" alt="mull" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TPwrP_CnZmI/AAAAAAAAAPg/mp-jGqH00C8/mull_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="right" border="0" width="236" height="218" /></a>Brandon Mull is the author of middle grade fantasy series <em>Fablehaven</em> along with standalone novel <em>The Candy Shop War</em> and children’s picture book <em>Pingo</em>. I chose to dedicate a month on the blog to the works of Brandon because after meeting him at Provo City Library’s Teen Book Fest I was convinced that he was a genuinely nice guy. The next day I picked up a copy of<em> Fablehaven</em> and was convinced, shortly thereafter, that he is one heck of a writer. Despite signings by other very popular authors (Brandon Sanderson, Scott Westerfeld) Brandon’s line at Teen Book Fest was by far the longest, eclipsing Sanderson who was seated next to him by about double.</p> <p align="justify">I was the last person in Brandon’s line, as I had yet to read any of his books. I was collecting signatures on the back of my nook and decided, seeing the line had almost petered out, to visit Brandon to add his sig to my collection. When I approached him he was at the tail end of a 3 hour signing session, he spent the first hour of the event in a panel on fantasy writing, and the next 3 in an uncomfortable seat facing down a line of admirers. Yet as I approached he seemed genuinely friendly and happy to talk to me. I asked him to sign my nook and he was happy to oblige, then he asked “So tell me about yourself, what is your situation” A moment of “omg” hit me, was this bestselling author really interested in what I had to say? He certainly made me feel like he did. We chatted about his books for a few moments, I even told him I had not read one yet. He assured me when I finished the <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TPwrQY8FjiI/AAAAAAAAAPk/PNmL43ZntMs/s1600-h/fblhvn%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="border-width: 0px; margin: 18px; background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; padding-top: 0px;" title="fblhvn" alt="fblhvn" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TPwrQ2rGIKI/AAAAAAAAAPo/6d5H8d1HpPA/fblhvn_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="left" border="0" width="242" height="118" /></a>first <em>Fablehaven</em> book, if I liked it I would be hooked.</p> <p align="justify">With that promise in my back pocket I quickly obtained a copy for my nook and set about reading. I was pleasantly surprised. In less than 30 days I read the entire 5 book series and <em>Pingo</em>, I will finish <em>The Candyshop War</em> tonight. As we spoke Brandon mentioned his newest series, Beyonders, the first book which debuts in March. I was sold on the synopsis he gave me and was itching to read it. I was super excited to find out that it was part of Simon and Schuster’s recent galley <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TPwrRL_2x5I/AAAAAAAAAPs/TrmL5De6Wcs/s1600-h/beyonder%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="border-width: 0px; margin: 18px; background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px;" title="beyonder" alt="beyonder" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TPwrRkcD9ZI/AAAAAAAAAPw/fyKP7Oh66Dg/beyonder_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" align="right" border="0" width="170" height="242" /></a>grab. Luckily I got an advanced copy sitting on my nook and will be reading it very soon.</p> <p align="justify">Brandon Mull Month will be a part of a longer series about Utah fantasy Authors. Specifically the three on the fantasy panel at Teen Book Fest: Mull, Sanderson and J. Scott Savage whose Far World series is currently sitting on my entertainment center waiting to be read. They had some great things to say about writing fantasy and I cannot wait to delve more into their ideas. Especially a follow up on my epic fantasy post of a month or so back, AND a review of the single best fantasy novel I have ever read.</p> <p align="justify">So stay tuned for reviews of the <em>Fablehaven</em> Books, <em>The Candyshop War</em>, <em>Pingo</em> and finally a look forward to <em>Beyonders</em>.</p>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-21667943930800676142010-11-29T22:31:00.001-08:002010-12-19T21:14:20.679-08:00What is a Good Book?<p>As bloggers we spend a lot of time critiquing books. We make judgments. We declare good or bad. Often we have some pretty good reasons. But, what IS a good book? Each reader has their own answer to this question. What I find great someone else will not. Although I try to respect the opinions of others, I find myself getting aggravated with literary elitists and snobs who tend to pan anything and everything that has a hint of popular appeal. I think these types are so far out of the loop that they have no business being taken seriously.</p> <p>A novel is in the end entertainment. We open a book hoping to fill a moment with action, adventure, romance and fantasy. Often we take something more away. Sometimes the story can touch us, can make us think, or change the way we think, it can enlighten us, tweak our worldview or even change our lives. But, to begin it all we opened the novel with the intention of being entertained. So if we finish a book with a contented sigh, reflect a moment on the joy we took out of it, the moments spent curled up entranced by the words and the story, then that book is a success.</p> <p>For me a good book is almost assuredly any book I have read cover to cover. I do not finish bad books. If a book succeeded in holding my attention from start to finish then It has done its job and provided me with something worth occupying my time. When reviewing a book it is not impactful to say “I read it so it must have been good".” But often that is how I feel, even when I finish a book with a little ambivalence, I had at least found something to keep me involved.</p> <p>Let us be honest a novel has many aspects: the story, the writing, the characters. Some writers are magnificent imaginers, they weave great tales. Some are masters of language and use literary flair as a tool to support their stories. Some have deep understanding of manipulating emotion and crafting characters with which we can connect. All of these are parts of a good novel, but not all are required to make a novel good.</p> <p>Let us look at <em>Twilight</em>. <em>Twilight</em> and Stephanie Meyer are often the butt of many jokes. Many people stoop so low as to call Meyers names and claim she is a terrible writer. But, this can be proven wrong merely by the joy her books have brought to millions of readers. These books, whether you like them or not, are good. Because they have succeeded in entertaining so many people, because they have inflamed the imagination, because they have enticed many people to open, read and finish her works. This is the mark of a good book.</p> <p>When I review a book here on this blog I cannot tell you if it was good or bad. I can tell you only if I liked it or not. It is my opinion that any book that someone out there can connect with, that brings moments of joy or escapism to any person who can sit with it from start to finish is a good book.</p> <p>The only question is: Did I Like It?</p> <p>The answer remains, if I read it, yes I liked it. Something in it was worth liking.</p>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093062968133114276.post-29254192102856092212010-11-22T18:46:00.001-08:002010-12-19T21:14:07.237-08:00Music Through Generations<p>As I stood flipping through my Dad’s CD case today I could not help but notice how much his musical tastes influenced my own. I then began contemplating my Grandfather’s musical tastes and saw a direct influence from him to my dad to me. Now don’t get me wrong, I can listen to just about anything from either of their collections and be pretty happy, but there has been an evolution in my musical tastes that includes everything that came before me and contemporary music. This doe not swing both ways. While I enjoy Hank Williams from my Gramps’ collection and Lynyrd Skynyrd from my Dad’s they do not like anything from my generation, and my Grandfather would not listen to the Outlaws or ZZ Top. Just like the previous generation of musical artist influences the next, so does the previous generation of music listener effect those that come later. I wanted to devote this post to trace the lineage of my musical tastes.</p> <p> </p> <p>I am really interested in new style alternative country music that has its roots in the classic country of my Grandfather’s era. A great example of this evolution:</p> <p> </p> <p>My Grandpa: Hank Williams</p> <div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline; float: none;" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:79a2f687-7870-414d-a0e7-9ba1d77b1666" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="8a243eb1-f43d-4df1-819b-9698dbd254b1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rvLeCMTofE" target="_new"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TOsq-Oljz0I/AAAAAAAAAPE/aWvVByp4l8c/videod37e70432c75%5B18%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none;" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('8a243eb1-f43d-4df1-819b-9698dbd254b1'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"275\" height=\"220\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/0rvLeCMTofE?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/0rvLeCMTofE?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"275\" height=\"220\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt="" /></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <p>My Dad: Willie Nelson</p> <div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline; float: none;" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:4dabd90d-6ae7-4361-8d11-a2798dc4ba32" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="00a28d8f-3ba5-439d-bed1-e888d4a943f1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u5LZ-DN3iA" target="_new"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TOsq-8uGZGI/AAAAAAAAAPI/jYFU7VWCxbk/video4ae002f97ebe%5B16%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none;" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('00a28d8f-3ba5-439d-bed1-e888d4a943f1'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"282\" height=\"226\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/5u5LZ-DN3iA?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/5u5LZ-DN3iA?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"282\" height=\"226\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt="" /></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <p>Me: Scott H. Biram</p> <div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline; float: none;" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:d29f999f-e053-4a27-b41c-697bc2391253" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="ebb16b05-cbe7-490f-b34b-0a930cf337b8" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADgCYjAtRUY" target="_new"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TOsq_4fusRI/AAAAAAAAAPM/Pnweb9kuOag/video1c701f9f4335%5B14%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none;" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('ebb16b05-cbe7-490f-b34b-0a930cf337b8'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"364\" height=\"218\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/ADgCYjAtRUY?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/ADgCYjAtRUY?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"364\" height=\"218\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt="" /></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <p>Each of these artists were influenced by the ones who came before. I remember listening to Willie Nelson with my dad as a youngster, and I can picture my dad hearing Hank Williams on the old stereo in Grandpa’s den through the 60s. So when I grew up and found Scott Biram instantly I fell in love with his style and updated lyrics and slight edginess.</p> <p> </p> <p>Grandpa: Jimmy C. Newman</p> <div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline; float: none;" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:65fc0a96-7f9b-4a5f-bbdb-d4c3f849f7a5" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="c1f7277c-f522-4d8e-9ced-83476987aa90" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqNmMFALYgg" target="_new"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TOsrAs7YkFI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/Hcy1S5DAxX4/videodd3662f0aa75%5B9%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none;" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('c1f7277c-f522-4d8e-9ced-83476987aa90'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"303\" height=\"243\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/IqNmMFALYgg?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/IqNmMFALYgg?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"303\" height=\"243\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt="" /></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <p>Dad: Lynyrd Skynyrd</p> <div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline; float: none;" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:a5647f39-e5a4-432f-b13c-fbc479685084" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="06c19fb9-ee6d-44e2-b0a0-9cf43562e0e5" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wJWBcj7lsY" target="_new"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TOsrBV_En8I/AAAAAAAAAPU/RMeqEaFPxeU/videoaea29f7f178d%5B8%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none;" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('06c19fb9-ee6d-44e2-b0a0-9cf43562e0e5'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"293\" height=\"235\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/_wJWBcj7lsY?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/_wJWBcj7lsY?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"293\" height=\"235\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt="" /></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <p>Me: North Mississippi All-stars</p> <p> </p><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline; float: none;" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:80fa7374-f274-4d93-b391-1f2fe5ad3d69" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="dd50f597-fe73-4cb9-8d5c-ba4830e962bf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT7kraGGbzk" target="_new"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hzT7pW7J-Sc/TOsrCYe2OOI/AAAAAAAAAPY/fCAjR6Xxzmo/video9d62e3af6e6a%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none;" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('dd50f597-fe73-4cb9-8d5c-ba4830e962bf'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"290\" height=\"232\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/qT7kraGGbzk?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/qT7kraGGbzk?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"290\" height=\"232\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt="" /></a></div></div></div> <p></p> <p> </p> <p>The connection between these bands is undeniable. I love that gritty down south sound. I remember long road trips with Gramps and Jimmy Newman’s Alligator Man blasting in his truck, or cruising canal banks fishing with my pop and listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top. Realizing I have another connection to my Dad and Grandpa through music is very meaningful to me.</p> <p> </p> <p>Does anyone else have similar stories?</p>Hammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324456707407116877noreply@blogger.com0